Parents
Parents play a large role in a student’s college career and in their decision to join a fraternity or sorority. Whether your family has a long history of fraternity and sorority involvement or your child is the first fraternity or sorority member in your family, our office is here to help you along the way. We greatly value the role that parents play in the lives of their children and look to you as an ally in making every student’s fraternity and sorority experience the best that it can be. Please take the time to look around our website and become familiar with Fraternity and Sorority Life at the University of South Carolina. If you’re still looking for more information, do not hesitate to call our office Monday-Friday from 8:30-5:00 at (803)777-3506.
A Letter to Parents
Dear Parents of Incoming Carolina Students,
On behalf of both the Fraternity and Sorority Councils at the University of South Carolina, congratulations on your son or daughter’s decision to join us here at USC! This is just the beginning of a very exciting four years at Carolina and a lifetime as a Gamecock.
Fraternity and Sorority life is a tradition at the University of South Carolina and something we would love to share with your family! From the first day as a Fraternity and Sorority member, our organizations provide an opportunity for your student to create lifelong friendships while developing personal and leadership skills that transcend their time in Columbia. Our Fraternity and Sorority Life is built upon four core values – Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Friendship. These are represented in a number of different tangible facets, described below, but also through the high standards we all hold our daily lives to.
Scholarship - Our dedication to academics comes first and foremost. We are proud that fraternity and sorority members have consistently higher grade point average than non-affiliated students and graduate at significantly higher rates. All of our Fraternities and sororities often have required academic standards for their members, to encourage high achievement. The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life has a partnership with the Academic Centers for Excellence, which assigns an academic coach to each chapter to provide extra resources to students. Our Fraternity and Sorority councils sponsor academic roundtables to share things such as study skills, our Greek programming board holds exam breakers during finals and each semester awards are given out to recognize chapters as well as individuals who strive for academic excellence.
Leadership – Leadership isn’t simply holding a position for members of the Greek community. It represents the encouragement all of our members are provided to help them reach their full potential from peers, alumni and Greek life professionals. Some of the programs we hold are listed below:
- Greek Camp- Organized by Greek Programming Board, this daylong event begins to develop the potential we see in our most recent new member classes.
- Greek Emerging Leaders Program- The office of Fraternity and Sorority Life facilitates this eight week long class for first and second year Greek members to further develop their leadership skills and knowledge of Greek Life.
- Greek Leadership Retreat- In addition to developing our new members, we also work hard to engage our upperclassman. Each January the University hosts a weekend-long retreat for current presidents and council members to develop goals and working relationships for the upcoming year.
- In addition, there are countless opportunities to hold an elected or appointed position on a Greek-wide council level as well as within individual chapters.
Service - Between our philanthropic events and service projects, fraternities and sororities are always showing their dedication to the community! We host an annual Carolina/Clemson blood drive in which we challenge Clemson to see who can donate the most blood in the state of South Carolina. We also support Dance Marathon, twenty-four hours of dancing to raise money for our local Children’s Hospital. An annual favorite among faculty and community members is Trick-or-Treat with the Greeks where the Boys and Girls club of Columbia and children of faculty come to trick-or-treat throughout the Greek Village. Sorority Council also hosts fundraisers for Circle of Sisterhood, which provides underprivileged young women with an education.
Friendship - Friendship is a common theme throughout the fraternity and sorority community, and as our members become more involved on campus and within our community, friendships are inevitable! The shared bond of being in a fraternity or sorority provides a common ground for all of our members. We are especially proud of Greek Week, in which all of our chapters come together for a friendly competition to raise money for a local philanthropy!
We welcome you to our University of South Carolina family and look forward to the opportunity to meet you! Go Greek and Go Gamecocks!
Sorority and Fraternity Council
Parents Weekend
Parents Weekend 2013 will be held October 4-6.
Please feel free to join us for our sponsored program(s) that will be hosted during the weekend:
My Student is Greek – Now What?
Friday, October 4- Time TBA
Russell House, room TBA
Did your son or daughter just join a fraternity or sorority? Come learn about the new member process and how you can help them make the most of being Greek!
To register and view the complete schedule, visit the Parent Programs website at http://www.sa.sc.edu/parents/parents-weekend/.
Helpful Links
2013 Guide to Carolina Fraternities and Sororities- Includes information on each chapter and costs for each chapter
FSL Calendar of Events- Full calendar of events for the fraternity and sorority community
Fraternity and Sorority Report Spring 2013- Includes chapter GPAs, service hours, money raised, and more
Fraternity and Sorority Report Fall 2012 - Includes chapter GPAs, service hours, money raised, and more
Organizational Student Conduct- History of organizations with conduct records
Frequently Asked Questions- Need more info? See if your question is answered here!